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Fix Dell SoundMax to Record Streaming Audio (ie what you hear) in Vista
I was trying to record an internet radio show (that my friend appeared on) today and discovered that Dell had nicely “removed” the feature to record what was going through my speakers. After some searching and driver install hacking, I got it to work. Here’s what I did:
- Download the latest drivers from Dell
- Run the EXE, but once it gets to the license screen I cancelled (but you do want it to unzip to a folder)
- Go into the folder and into the i386 folder (for you intel users)
- Go into the vista folder
- back up the ADIHdAud.inf file
- open up the ADIHdAud.inf file and make the following edits:
- change: HKR,AD1983\\Disable, OutR, 1, 01
- to: HKR,AD1983\\Disable, OutR, 1, 00
- change: HKR,AD1983\\Disable, MonR, 1, 01
- to: HKR,AD1983\\Disable, MonR, 1, 00
- change: HKR,AD1984\\Disable, MonR, 1, 01
- to: HKR,AD1984\\Disable, MonR, 1, 00
- By changing these values you will now have a fresh install that includes the stereo mix feature (I believe the 1->0 change told it to no longer disable the feature)
- Save the file
- Go to your device manager in your control panel
- Go to sound, video and game controllers and select soundmax
- hit the delete key on your keyboard
- tell it to delete the drivers (check the box)
- reboot
- go to the directory where you dumped the drivers from the exe (the main directory that was above the ADIHdAud.inf file)
- run the setup program
- now go to the control panel and select sound
- right click in a blank area in the box and select the “show disabled devices” option
- click on the recording tab
- right click on the stereo mix icon (faded icon) and select enable
- download audacity (free) – you may want the LAME encoder as well, if you prefer MP3 audio
- install audacity and run it
- select edit -> preferences -> audio i/o tab -> recording box -> device drop down box -> stereo mix
- hit OK
- hit the big red circle button to record (although I suggest that you have the stream running first)
Phew! I just hate when companies break fully functional hardware. In any case I hope this helped you as it did me.
Here’s the references that I used:
Dear Ben,
I would like to take a little time to thank you so much for the above solution. I have been trying and looking all over for a solution that would allow me to record from my Dell Optiplex 745.
I have followed your instrucions to the letter and it works like a champ.
Once again my deepest gratitude!
Have a wonderful holiday season and take care,
Max
i have a dell xps 8300. what driver do i download?
What’s the file to edit for Windows 7? There is no ADIHdAud.inf file for Window 7.
Try looking to see if your files are hidden. You’ll have to go into your folder settings.
perhaps an easier way – this worked for me on my asus p6t deluxe with vista64.
http://vistadesktopthemes.com/audacity-recording-what-you-hear-vista-fix.html
By the way, this is on Windows 7 Ultimate
Fred, you said this worked on Windows 7 Ultimate? What file did you modify? According to Dell, the driver for my D830 is their file R171788. When I expand the file, there is no i386 folder or Vista sub-folder, and there is no file named ADIHdAud.inf anywhere. What did I miss??
Thanks,
Mark
It worked. Thanks a billion. I had spent a whole week trying to figure out what to do. I tried installing the drivers in “Compatible mode”, nothing worked, but when I read this article and followed the instructions, everything fell into place. You cannot imagine how excited I was. Thanks once more.
Awesome. It took me a bit as well. I got frustrated that Dell would pull a stunt like that. I was trying to record my boss on an internet broadcast.
–Ben
Wow, this worked I can’t believe it! I had almost given up entirely on the ridiculous Dell protected soundmax driver. Instead I stumbled upon this incredible fix and am back to recording like normal!
Many Thanks!
when backing up ADIHdAud.inf. make sure
you change the extension to somthing other than .inf. I wasted a lot of time because I backuped via copy-paste, and ended up using the
backup instead of the changed file…
yikes. well i hope your comment helps someone else. glad to hear it worked in the end.
…ben from his droid which isnt liking capital letters or punctuation
No problem. I’m glad it worked. Looks like the Dell Optiplex 745 is a popular model. I’m running on a Dell Optiplex 330.
Thanks. Works. I am able to record music and listen to it while on the go
Wow, a lot of Dell 745 users here. This worked great the second time I went through the instructions. Thanks a ton!
This works well for XP users too, slightly different, but was good enough to walk me through.
Thanks
Dell Optiplex 745
Great write up. Thanks for the reference.
and how in notebook pav hp dv6 series 🙁
1day i cant found any solutions :(( vista meke me crazy hrhrhr~
Glad I could help. It totally drove me crazy that dell locks down hardware that we’ve paid for when its not even their battle. They’re protecting some third party from their customer.
Thanks for this. I have a Dell 745 and this fix was just the ticket.
Wow, nice detailed and logically flowed instructions =D